CG License holders: how did you document your sea hours?

[Mariner]

I think I'm more than qualified to go for my Master's (aside from, perhaps, some cramming for the test), and I have literally thousands of hours aboard vessels ranging from kayaks on up to 100' sailing yachts, but I've never really kept a log. It seems as though the Coast Guard wants a detailed log of your hours. I know we've got a few license holders on here. How did you report your hours? I know they have a provision for people who can show ownership of a vessel, but I imagine it's not as simple as just writing a letter saying, "I own a boat, give me a license."

[special k]

while i never kept a log in my early boating days, the CG accepted documentation of past registrations and an account of my time for the years i had boats in my name. did a lot of research with my state motor vehicle dept. archives. but this only accounts for boats you have owned. good luck

currently holding 50 ton master with towing endorsement.
cheers! mk

[Capt Paul]

If you have owned your own boats and can document the ownership of the boat then you will have an easy time of getting those hours on to the form.

It's the hours you have spent on other's boats that can be difficult. You will need to get signatures from either the boat's master or owner for the hours spent on it. I generraly made sure that if I did not expect to spend that many more hours on a boat that I had the paper work signed off before I lost track of the owner or master.

Paul

[jack Stone]

I was surprised when I went through this a couple of years ago. They don't seem to verify anything once the paperwork goes in. I painstakingly went through all my records to gather the sea time I needed (off shore, OUVP only). When I went to swear in (Baltimore) it was a rubber stamp type of process. I would think that if you honestly had the sea time and could remember the boat names and approximate dates, they don’t care. I was disappointed in how caviler the whole process was, then I remembered that is a government agency after all. Don’t get me wrong, I have very high regard for field Coasties but the back office is still the back office. Good Luck in the test!

[Mariner]

Recreational (non commercial) time counts, though, right? So basically, I just need to create a log-book with an entry for EVERY time I'm on the water in any boat and I'm good? Are there any good pre-printed log-books out there that are geared towards recording hours, kind of like what pilots have? We've kept log books for the Albin, but they're not operator-specific, and I don't record every trip, only the long ones. And I don't record my hours in any other vessels.

[jack Stone]

These are the people I took the test under. Great class because it is not just how to pass but a good amount of interaction and learning went on. That is what they push for. Hit their site and the forms link will have what is needed to be filled out to help figure out what should be collected for future use.
http://www.wegivethetest.com/

[westrivertrawler]

Recreational (non commercial) time counts, though, right? So basically, I just need to create a log-book with an entry for EVERY time I'm on the water in any boat and I'm good? Are there any good pre-printed log-books out there that are geared towards recording hours, kind of like what pilots have? We've kept log books for the Albin, but they're not operator-specific, and I don't record every trip, only the long ones. And I don't record my hours in any other vessels.

I believe you can use whatever method you choose to record your sea service. I used a spreadsheet. As I recall, all time on the water counts, accrued as "days underway". If you own the vessel, then you are "self'certifying". If you were on someone elses boat, they will have to fill out a form certifying sea service aboard their vessel. Jack hit the "key word"; when you submit your application, you "swear-in" and affirm that the information provided is correct.

[Mariner]

Alright, well I've started an Excel spreadsheet and will be going back through Nordvika's log book and transferring what I can into it. That will easily give me several hundred hours. Then, I'll just keep recording every trip from here on out. Should be interesting to keep a running total and see how much time I really do spend on the water.

Gosh, I know I've put 60 hours on the Whaler just since last spring when I installed the hour meter. No one else uses it.

[jack Stone]

The sea time count by the day and day being at least 4 hours as I remember. It can be on any kind of water craft even a stand up surf board with a paddle counts. The Whaler is a good one to add. I studied for 3 months prior to just my OUPV. I read the entire COLREG's and chapman cover to cover. Brutal. Good Luck when you test!

[Mariner]

Hmmm. The four hour thing might be a problem. I've transfered all the recorded log data I have into a spreadsheet and, of course, it's nowhere near enough, since we don't have logs books for previous vessels (destroyed in a fire) and they were pretty spotty anyway. But primarily, I have a lot of days where we spent something less than four hours underway, but was aboard the vessel a full 24 hours.

I'd like to be able to add the sailing endorsement, as I have spent literally years aboard sailboats (growing up, we always spent a month cruising every year on our sailboat, and I crewed on the Sea Explorer Ship Odyssey for four years), but I have NOTHING in the way of records of any of that. Perhaps the Sea Explorers would have it in their logs. I may need to pay them a visit.

[jack Stone]

Don't be overly concerned on your documentation. I was and found that they didn't seem to care about the details as much as "checking off a box" type processing. I believe the best way to look at this is if you actually did have the required amount of sea time like it sounds and you put that down with the date ranges that you can remember you should be ok in your application. I don't recall having to have it broken out between power or sail in the logs. To get the extra endorsements is just an extra test added. I got the towing endorsement and it was about 10 extra questions.

You referred to being underway. Test quiz: what is the difference of "underway" or "making way" (I learned this one in my classes for the test).

[Mariner]

I would define "underway" as being somewhere other than secured in port. Making way would be actually moving.

Am I right?

[Capt Ron]

Documenting days on the water is mostly on an honor system basis. What I mean is, fill out the Coast Gaurd sea service form, one for each vessel being documented and supply registration or documentation proof of each vessel.
My personal opinion is, most people lie. Shocking, huh? I took a course through Sea School. The sea time question came up as to does the Coast Guard really check on the truth of stated days on the water. The instructor said "in all the years teaching the course he'd only heard of one person being questioned". The fellow questioned posted so much time during the warm months, and being quite a distance from saltwater I guess it looked made up. The fellow told the Coast Guard his job allowed him to spend summers at the shore. That was enough for them.
I do keep logbooks of my time on the water, Just in case.

[RicM]

I keep track of my hour meter for maintainence. Even if I'm not at the helm, my boat doesn't move unless I'm on it. That would easily document about 500 hours on the Albin alone, of just running time. If you add the hours stopped but aboard, it would easily be double that. I would swear to that in court. I think the coastguard probably realizes that there is no way they can factually verify these hours. In the British Navy (If you believe the Jack Aubrey books), there was the tradition of the captain reporting back to the admiralty when returning from a mission. They were gone for years at a time. They had to present an account of themselves when they returned to England, and it was generally accepted between gentlemen that this is the facts as best one knew them. What else could they do? Crew were available for interview if there were discrepencies, but 5 men will tell the same story 5 different ways. Bad apples have a way of sinking to the bottom of the barrel, and I'm sure that was the philosophy of the British Navy at the time. If a few unfortunate souls sunk with them, it's an unavoidable tragedy. The whole setup of the coastguard license sounds very self policing. This was the way most of the world was run 50-100 years ago. Anyone could blow into town and call themselves a doctor. If you started cutting limbs off the farm hands with hang nails and feeling up the womenfolks they tarred & feathered you or hung you from a tree. Self policing.
One thing that boating has taught me (I never served in the military so I am late to this) is that you do not inherit, take, or seize command. The Patrick O'brien books make this point over the arch of the series. It cannot be awarded to you with a patch, badge, or certificate. You win command, one crew at a time. You are a captain when you have developed the ability to inspire a group of people to follow you willingly, even joyfully, into a hostile environment on a journey that could become dangerous. Anytime I raise my voice is a failure of command. Every failure of command is my fault. If I'm a good captain, everyone knows their place and is prepared for any job expected of them. We treat each others as ladies and gentlemen. I bring 'em all back safely or die trying. That's the contract.

[Capt Ron]

Well put, well said.